Police checking how man got gun he used in killing

He shot his estranged wife in Monroe, killed himself in Brooklyn.

Sean David White's suicide in a Brooklyn hotel room may have ended a police manhunt for him for killing his estranged wife, but it did not stop investigations into other aspects of the case.

White, accused in the early Thursday shooting of Dalvis Small-White in her Smithfield Township, Monroe County, home, was found dead Friday night in a Brooklyn hotel room of a gunshot wound to the head.

The New York City medical examiner's office said Monday that White took his own life. Police were searching for him on homicide and aggravated assault charges.

Monroe County District Attorney Mark Pazuhanich said Monday that investigators are still probing White's purchase of the .50-caliber handgun used to shoot Small-White. That same gun is believed to be the one White used to take his life, the district attorney said.

Pazuhanich said the gun was purchased locally, but White was not listed as the buyer. He said White paid for the weapon, which was listed in someone else's name. He said White, 32, would not have been allowed to own a weapon because of a "prior criminal history" but would not elaborate.

In addition, Pazuhanich said police are continuing to look into whether anyone helped White flee to New York. Investigators Thursday said White was picked up by a woman in a red Toyota at a Tannersville sandwich shop on Route 611 about 11/2 hours after the slaying. Officials said they believed White may have been headed to the New York City area because he had contacts there.

White and the victim lived about a quarter-mile from one another on Brook Song Way in a relatively new development near Route 209. White lived at 52 Brook Song Way with the 8-year-old son he shared with Small-White. The victim lived at 32 Brook Song Way with her mother and a 14-year-old son from another relationship. That boy was on the phone with police when his mother was shot three times near her front door.

According to the affidavit that accompanied the charges against White, the teen was on the phone with state police at Swiftwater around 4:30 a.m. to report that White "is breaking into my grandmother's house."

Police said they heard several gunshots over the phone.

The teenager said, "Oh my God, he just shot my mother," and the call ended.

In an interview with police, the teenager said White yelled for him to come out of his room but said his mother told him to stay there. He heard a scream and then gunshots. White fled the home and the teen said he went downstairs to find his mother on the floor near the front door. She had been shot in the head, chest and leg.

The victim, 33, was a longtime English as a Second Language teacher at a Brooklyn elementary school and recently took a job as an ESL coordinator in Brooklyn Community School District 16. Authorities said White was not employed.

In January, Small-White got a protection-from-abuse order against White. In the application, she alleged White had threatened to hurt and to shoot her. Court records said they separated Jan. 3.